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Once Considered 'Simple,' the Ancient Edomites Were Actually Tech Geniuses
www.popularmechanics.com ^ | By David Grossman Sep 23, 2019

Posted on 09/24/2019 2:28:15 PM PDT by Red Badger

The Edomites were portrayed as aggressors in biblical texts. but there's more to their story, according to a new study.

With help from the nearby Egyptians, the Edomites developed technological prowess with a hot commodity at the time: copper.

Studying ancient slag, archaeologists were able to uncover a complex geopolitical situation in the year 10,000 BCE.

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The Edomites, an ancient kingdom derided in biblical texts as simple, have been underestimated for thousands of years, according to a new paper from a team of archaeologists. Far from simple tent-dwellers, the Edomites experienced a massive technological leap in the 10th century BCE, living near what is now southern Israel and Jordan.

"Our study sheds new light on the emergence of the archaeologically-elusive biblical kingdom of Edom, indicating that the process started much earlier than previously thought" says Erez Ben-Yosef of Tel Aviv University in a press statement.

Ben-Yosef's team was exploring a concept called "punctuated equilibrium," which suggests that societal changes comes through long-term stasis punctuated by short-lived episodes of rapid change as opposed to a slow-and-steady gradual change. To test the idea, the team examined over 150 samples of slag leftover from metallurgical technology in the Wadi Arabah region of the Levant in the Middle East, dating from 1300 to 800 BCE.

Slag, the glass-like byproduct from a metal's smelting process, offered a perfect indicator of technological capability. Copper, an in-demand resource at the time, was used for everything from tools to weapons. Making it quickly, without much waste, would provide many advantages to the Edomites.

“We demonstrated a sudden standardization of the slag in the second half of the 10th century BC, from the Faynan sites in Jordan to the Timna sites in Israel, an extensive area of some 2,000 square kilometers, which occurred just as the Egyptians entered the region,” says Ben-Yosef. “The efficiency of the copper industry in the region was increasing. The Edomites developed precise working protocols that allowed them to produce a very large amount of copper with minimum energy.”

Like many other tech booms, the Edomite copper proficiency did not happen on its own. The region known as modern-day Israel had just faced invaders in the form of the Egyptian Pharaoh Shoshenq I.

“Based on the appearance of names from the Negev region in the description of this event in Egypt (topographical list at the Temple of Amun in Karnak) it has been suggested that one of the destinations of Shoshenq I’s campaign was the Wadi Arabah and its copper industry,” writes the team in their new paper describing their findings. “This hypothesis was strengthened recently by the accidental discovery of a rare scarab bearing the throne name of Sheshonq I in Faynan.”

Ben-Yosef suggests that the Egyptian invasion might not have been as malicious as previously believed—rather, they could have been opening borders to trade. “The Egyptians were making sure not only that they would get the copper via trade contracts, and also make the industry better. As a super regional power, they may have had tech knowledge from other places, and gave some tech tips to the Edomites’ R&D teams,” he says, speaking to The Times of Israel.

This leap could have allowed the Edomites to move from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age. The revelations show that the Edomites are much more complex people than simple enemies of the ancient Israelites as depicted in the Bible.

“Studying the technology itself allowed us to know something about these people,” says Ben-Yosef. “Now we know they had a complex social organization — well-organized and centralized under one leadership."


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Education; History; Science
KEYWORDS: bronzeage; copper; edom; edomite; edomites; ggg; godsgravesglyphs; timna; timnavalley
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1 posted on 09/24/2019 2:28:15 PM PDT by Red Badger
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To: SunkenCiv

PinGGG!.....................


2 posted on 09/24/2019 2:29:26 PM PDT by Red Badger (Against stupidity the gods themselves contend in vain......................)
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To: Red Badger

BTTT


3 posted on 09/24/2019 2:35:20 PM PDT by litehaus (A memory toooo long.............)
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To: Red Badger

But they were apparently not able to parlay their prowess in metals to build a civilization that would rival their neighbors.

Zerox was first to develop many core elements of both modern networking and the GUI computer screens for PCs, but could not manage to parlay it all into a big future for themselves.

Often it is not what you can do, but what you can do next using that which know how to do. Discovery and initial breakthrough into useful production is only the first step.


4 posted on 09/24/2019 2:51:29 PM PDT by Wuli
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To: Red Badger

But they were MUSLIMS!!! Hate Hate hate. No matter what they were pagan unbelievers who deserve absolutely no credit for intellectual achievement... period...

The crusades come to mind in this...


5 posted on 09/24/2019 2:53:34 PM PDT by Openurmind
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To: Red Badger

Okay Poopular Mechanics, where in scripture is Edom derided in the manner you say?

I am seeing better things said about Edom than about most of the other people of the region in my Bible.


6 posted on 09/24/2019 2:55:46 PM PDT by MrEdd (Caveat Emptor)
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To: Red Badger

Nota Bene:

The use of BCE [Before Common Era] and CE [Common Era] is insidious Cultural Marxism in play; it is in itself propaganda.

Did the secular atheists who replaced BC [Before Christ] and AD [Anno Domini: In the Year of Our Lord] make any other changes to the global timeline? No. They stole it whole and renamed it. It is in absolute fact the same timeline.

They simply excised the raison d’etre for that timeline - just as they have done with Christmas Vacation, rendering it generic Holiday Vacation - without changing the actual vacation.

The monk, Dionysius Exiguus (Denis the Little), devised the timeline - using Roman Numerals, and without the use of the Zero - in response to a directive from Pope John I.

He attempted to determine the date of the birth of Jesus Christ, not for its own sake (since Christmas was not the main Christian celebration then), but in order then to make a calendar predicting future Easter dates for celebrating that, the chief holy day in the annual church calendar.

This is typical communism in action: Steal something, then remove all cultural or religious connotation, to make it appear “modern”: secular and atheist. (It is remarkably similar to what Muslims do when they conquer a nation; that is further proof that Marxists and Muslims share a totalitarian mindset, and a hatred for Christianity.)

It is intellectual theft. They did no work to devise this calendar, and they removed all reference to the reason for its being.

I am certainly not criticising you for posting such an article. I am, howver, suggesting that you and all stop viewing such encroachments upon First Amendment rights in the public sphere as merely benign and minor.

Were I to post such an article, I would append a note pointing this out.

No, this is not trivial. They will not rest until it becomes essentially illegal to even use BC or AD in any public capacity.

P.S.

AD goes before the date, not after, if one uses it: In the Year of Our Lord ####, not #### in the Year of Our Lord. One would not sing, “2525 in the Year.”


7 posted on 09/24/2019 2:59:12 PM PDT by YogicCowboy ("I am not entirely on anyone's side, because no one is entirely on mine." - J. R. R. Tolkien)
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To: YogicCowboy

Just *TRY* and use ‘BC’ or ‘AD’ in any college paper anywhere other than at an explicitly Christian university and see how it goes.


8 posted on 09/24/2019 3:07:49 PM PDT by RedStateRocker (Nuke Mecca. Deport all illegals. Abolish the DEA, IRS and ATF,.)
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To: All

Edomites for old tech
Sodomites for new tech - maybe Tim Cook from Apple?
Actually, I think the Kingdom of Edom was after the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.


9 posted on 09/24/2019 3:12:23 PM PDT by Honest Nigerian
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To: Red Badger

Herod the Great was an Edomite. Some of the greatest building took place during his reign such as the Second Temple, the port of Caesarea, numerous palaces and fortifications.


10 posted on 09/24/2019 3:21:02 PM PDT by CdMGuy
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To: Red Badger

I call Karnak the Great all the time to predict FReepathons. He’s been right for twenty years.

5.56mm


11 posted on 09/24/2019 3:21:21 PM PDT by M Kehoe (DRAIN THE SWAMP! BUILD THE WALL!)
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To: YogicCowboy; RedStateRocker

So in the meantime everyone throws the baby out with the bathwater because of three characters in terminology. A timeline point is a segment in the line now matter what the hell you call that particular point. Unless it changes the timeline from that particular point then it doesn’t matter what you call it or deem it as.

A point in time is a point in time, no matter what you call it. This is all dumb idiotic stuff to prevent real discovery from both sides of this crap. While we should be concentrating on CONTENT, we are instead arguing symbolic semantics and definition. Just dumb as hell, blind faith will do what blind faith will do I guess...


12 posted on 09/24/2019 3:25:06 PM PDT by Openurmind
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To: MrEdd

I don’t remember the Edomites being derided in the Bible in the way this article implies. The Edomites were the cousins of the Israelites since they were descended from Abraham, Isaac, and Esau.
Also this article mentions the date, 10,000 BC, and then later says 1,000 BC. I know it was probably just a typo, but they should have caught that mistake.


13 posted on 09/24/2019 3:25:09 PM PDT by cactusflower
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To: Openurmind

They weren’t muslims back then.


14 posted on 09/24/2019 3:33:59 PM PDT by cactusflower
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To: cactusflower

I know that, you know that, but try to tell the religious and ethnic hatred that. As far as they are concerned the whole place should be nuked. What most do not know is that the temple was NOT destroyed by Islam as is is being shared in propaganda. The Muslims DID NOT invade Europe to give cause and reason for the crusades.

What the church claimed as a Islamic invasion into Europe was bullcrap, they had already owned it in Spain for a thousand years and we wanted it. the Temple was not destroyed by Islam, it was destroyed by Babylonians at least 60 years before Islam was even a thing.

The whole conflict is based on lies and lies from the beginning. And most of the lies came from the Jewish/Christian side of the conflict. And I can prove this real history all day long... Ignorant fools they are...

Not to defend... But let’s at least get it right so that we can truly claim righteousness without deception.


15 posted on 09/24/2019 4:02:37 PM PDT by Openurmind
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To: Openurmind

What’s the star date?


16 posted on 09/24/2019 4:09:09 PM PDT by steve8714
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To: cactusflower

And 30% of Iran is CHRISTIAN, almost one third... They are expendable and acceptable losses because they are brown Christians and don’t count? It makes me sick, that we would exemplify ourselves in the same exact same way that the damned Jihadists do.

We have no right to claim “righteousness” at all.


17 posted on 09/24/2019 4:09:42 PM PDT by Openurmind
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To: steve8714

That is a very good question. Have any ideas? I will chase it down if you give me a point in the time segment to refer from. I know one thing... No one looks far enough back, or far enough forward to actually get vision.


18 posted on 09/24/2019 4:14:09 PM PDT by Openurmind
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Comment #19 Removed by Moderator

Comment #20 Removed by Moderator


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